Combination lock opener



yMarch 14, 1961 l. JACOBS 1 ISAAC JACOBS INVENTOR.

COMBINATION LOCK OPENER Isaac Jacobs, 97 Falmouth Ave., East Paterson,NJ.

Filed Apr. 21, 1958, Ser. No. 729,663 9 claims. (ci. 715-442) Myinvention relates generally to devices and methods for openingcombination locks without specific knowledge of the combination and moreparticularly relates to a device and a method for imparting vibration tothe members constituting the combination lock so that they mayautomatically ladjust themselves to unlocked position.

It is among the objects of my invention to provide a method for openinga combination lock without specific knowledge of the combination.

Another object of my invention is to provide a device and method forimparting physical impulses to the members of a combination lock tocause them to move haphazardly until such time as they reach an unlockedposition.

Yet another object of my invention is to provide a device and a methodfor rapidly setting a combination lock in an unlocked position withoutknowledge of the combination.

Yet a further object of my invention is to provide a device and methodto enable the unskilled to set a locked combination lock in an unlockedposition without knowledge of the true combination.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device and method foropening a combination lock without knowledge of the combination in sucha manner that no physical damage is caused to the lock mechanism or thesafe or similar article to which the lock is applied.

Among the further objects of my invention is to provide a device yandmethod for setting a combination lock in an unlocked position whichmethod shall be easy to practice, rapid, and shall not require anyparticular skill; and the device shall be relatively inexpensive,durable, easy to maintain and operate.

These objects and advantages as well as other objects may be -achievedby theA device and method shown by way of illustration in the drawingsin which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational View of Aa safe to which the device foropening combination locks has been applied;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the device for openingcombination locks;

Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 are diagrams detailing the movement of thecomponents of the device during the course of its operation; and

Figure 7 is a View of the clamp foi` the combination knob.

When a combination for a combination lock is lost or unknown, the attackupon 'the problem of opening a safe or similar item may involve the useof a skilled operative who, through his sense of touch, or throughacuity of hearing, is able to determine the movement of the mechanismand arrive at the proper opening position through manipulation of theknob and the exercise of the aforementioned modalities. There arehowever numerous combination locks which are `specifically designed,with varying degrees of success, to defy suc-h methods of manipulation.In some cases, auxiliary listening devices in the nature of microphoneand electronic ampli- 2,974,517 Patented Mar. 14, 1961 lthe operatorfails, and the auxiliary devices do not aid in the laccomplishment ofthe desired results, there is usually only one remaining expedient andthat is to resort to explosive forces in order to open the combinationlock.

The present invention is intended to avoid the necessity for the use ofa highly skilled operative in order to open a combination lock withoutthe combination or to avoid the necessity for destroying the lock by theapplication of forces. Broadly, a combination lock frequently involvesthe use of a combination knob mounted on a rotatable shaft. lThe shafthas a plurality of wheels rotatably mounted thereon. One of these wheelsmay be actually keyed to the shaft. Each of these wheels is providedwith a slot and the wheels have means mounted thereon that will causethe rotation of an adjacent wheel, under some circumstances to move itsneighboring Wheel. When the combination knob has been manipulated inaccordance with the proper numeric sequence dictated by the combination,the wheels are all adjusted to a position in which their separate slotsare brought into alignment Iand a fence will drop into the slo-tsthereby unlocking the combination lock and permitting the lock-bolt tobe withdrawn. It should be noted that .the failure of any slot to bebrought into alignment with the remaining slots is sufficient to preventthe fence from falling into the slots and setting the lock to unlockedposition.

The present method and device is in essence a clamp that is secured tothe combination knob. Movement is imparted to this clamp by a connectingrod mounted on a crank shaft driven by an electric motor. The clamp willcause the reciprocal movement of the combination knob and the`consequent reciprocal movement of the shaft. This movement will merelyinvolve a few degrees of turning of the shaft, rapidly back and forth.Such movement will impart a vibration or an oscillation to the shaft andcause the wheels that are rotatably mounted thereon to embark uponrandom or haphazard rotation. The rst wheel is usually easy to setmanually through the exercise of the sense of touch, so that its slot isin alignment with the fence. The remaining wheels, will continue, eachseparately, its random movement until the respective slots are disposedin coincidence with the manually set slot of the first Wheel. It hasbeen found that such random movement of the freely rotatable wheels ofthe combination lock, which wheels are not keyed to the shaft, willcease when the slots in the wheels are in position to receive, thefence. l When all of the wheels are disposed, by reason of the vibratorymovement of the shaft or by reason of its oscillation, in positionv toreceive the fence, the fence drops into the slot and the combination isunlocked. This usually takes no more than a few minutes.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, my device for openingcombination locks has a clamp 141. The form of this clamp is notcritical. It can be any form of clamp which will grip the combinationknob lf2 of a safe 13 and hold it firmly during oscillatory orreciprocal movement without allowing it to slip.

I have illustrated one suitable species of clamp which consists of apair of unitary jaws 14; 14 which are resilient and maybe drawn togetherby the nut 10 and bolt 15 passing through the jaws 14, 14. The jaws havegripping surfaces 16,116 shaped to engage and hold a combination knob12. A

The opposite end 17 ofthe jaws i4, 14 is provided with a verticalpassage to receive a flexible connecting rod or link 18. A set-screw 19will hold the jaws 14, 14 to the rod. The link 18 is attached to a crankZit. vThe crank 20 is rotatably mounted on a crank-housing 21'.

aar-1,517

' 3 The link 18 extends into the housing 21 through a slot 22.

One endV 23 of the crank 20 extends outside of the housing 21 and isprovided with a flexible tubular coupling 24. A shaft 25 is attached toand extends from the coupling 24. This shaft 25 may be connected to aconventional electric drill as a driving means or the crank 20 may bethe motor shaft of an electric motor 26.

The operation of the motor 26 causes the crank 20 to reciprocate thelink 18. The link being of resilient stock, will whip or flex, as shownin Figures 3, 4, and 6 to cause the clamp 11 to oscillate the knob 12back and forth through a minute arc of perhaps 3.25 to 7.50 degrees.Since the knob 12 has already Ibeen set manually by sense of touch, witha slot on a keyed wheel in alignment with the fence, the rapidoscillation of the knob 12 will cause the wheel which is keyed to theknob to move in and out of alignment with the fence. The sameoscillation of the shaft connected to the knob will cause the wheelswhich are not keyed to the combination knob shaft to move at randomuntil their slots coincide with the fence. The contact of the unkeyedwheels with the shaft is not entirely friction-free; each reciprocalmovement of the shaft will overcome the inertia of the unkeyed wheelsand cause some random movements of the wheels. It has been found thatthe slots, once aligned with the fence, will not be vibrated orreciprocated to move beyond this friction free-point where there is nocontact with the fence. When all the slots, through random movement(except the slot in the wheel which is keyed to the shaft-and has beenpre-set) are in alignment, the fence drops into the slots and thecombination lock is open.

Attention is directed to the fact that in a combination lock, there areengaging means on each `of the wheels which contact the adjacent wheelat certain positions. lt is therefore desirable, as well as standardoperating procedure for all locksmiths who attempt to open cornbinationlocks without the combination, to set each of the wheel elements at yaposition wherein the successive wheels shall be positioned innon-engaged relation with each other. This standard operating procedureis recommended for my apparatus yand method in order that the randommotion of the wheels will proceed rapidly Without any interference byreason of engagement of one wheel with an adjacent wheel. Thus in orderto set a combination lock for the start of an opening operation, afour-dial lock would have its combination turned four complete fullturns in one direction, succeeded by alternately 3, 2 and 1 turns inopposite directions. This sets up the unkeyed wheels for free unhamperedrandom motion.

lt will be seen that I have shown a device for imparting rapidoscillatory movement to a combination knob by oscillating a clampattached to the knob. The form of the clamp, or the link, and of thecrank may be changed. They each may have known equivalents in form aswell as function which may be substituted. All of these substitutionsand changes are contemplated as being within the `scope of the appendedapparatus claims.

Likewise, as to the method, the steps thereof may be varied as to themanner of their performance, and such variation or changes as areequivalent in function are contemplated as being within the scope of theappended method claims.

I claim:

Al. A combination lock opener comprising a crank, a means to support thecrank for rotation, a means connected to the crank for rotatably drivingthe crank, a flexible connecting rod pivotally attached at one end tothe crank for rapid reciprocation of the connecting rod, a grippingmeans attached to the other end of the connecting rod, the grippingmeans engageable with the combination knob of a combination lock.

2. A combination lock opener comprising a rotatable it crank, a drivingmeans for the crank, a flexible connecting rod pivotally `attached atone end to the crank for rapid reciprocation of the connecting rod, aclamp attached the other end of the flexible connecting rod, the clampengageable with the combination knob of a combination lock.

3. A combination -lock opener in which a combination knob is attached toa rotatable shaft, rotatable unkeyed slotted wheels are on the shaft,and there is a fence adapted to enter the slots; comprising a clamp togrip the combination knob of a combination lock, a means connected tothe clamp for rapidly reciprocating the clamp in engagement with thecombination knob, to im part a rapid reciprocating movement to the knoband to the shaft connected to it and random movement of the locksunkeyed wheels on the shaft until the wheels slots are all inregistration with the fence in the lock.

4. A method for opening a combination lock comprising manually settingthe keyed wheel of a combination lock to open position by tactile sense,mechanically reciprocating the combination knob to impart randommovement to the unkeyed wheels in the combination lock, continuing suchmechanical reciprocation until each of the wheels has moved to openposition and the fence falls into the coincident open slots.

5. A method for opening a combination lock comprising manually settingthe lock at normal starting position with the Wheels disengaged fromeach other, manually setting the keyed wheel of the combination lock toopen position by the tactile sense, reciprocating the combination knobin opposite directions, imparting a random movement to the unkeyedwheels of the combination lock until the fence falls into the coincidentopen slots.

6. A method for opening a combination lock comprising manually settingthe lock at normal starting position with the wheels disengaged fromeach other, manually setting by tactile sense the keyed wheel of thecom-bination lock to open position with its slot positioned to receivethe fence, mechanically reciprocating the combination knob, impartingrandom movements to the unkeyed wheels of the combination lock until theslots of all of the wheels are simultaneously in registration with thefence and their random movement is stopped by the fence dropping intothe slots.

7. A method for opening a combination lock cornprising manually settingthe lock at normal starting position with the wheels disengaged fromeach other, manually setting by -tactile sense the keyed wheel of thecombination lock to open position with its slot positioned to receivethe fence, mechanically reciprocating the combination knob a few degreesin opposite directions imparting random movements to unkeyed wheels ofthe combination lock until their random movements stop with the fencedropping into the coincident slots.

8. A combination lock opener for a combination lock in which acombination knob is attached to a rotatable shaft, lrotatable unkeyedslotted wheels are on the shaft, and there is a fence adapted to enterthe slots compris ing a clamp engageable with the combination knob,means for rapidly reciprocating the clamp to impart movement to theshaft whereby random movement is imparted to the wheels.

9. A combination lock opener for a combination lock in which lacombination knob is attached to a rotatable shaft, rotatable unkeyedslotted wheels are on the shaft, and there is a fence adapted to enterthe slots comprising a means for gripping the combination knob of alock, means for rapidly reciprocating the gripping means to impartmovement to the shaft whereby random movement is imparted to the wheels.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS534,650 Knox Peb. 26, 1895

